The invention relates to an apparatus for cutting containers away from a foil web. One such apparatus for cutting away deep-drawn, filled plastic packages is known from German Patent Disclosure DE 31 18 946 A1. It has support platforms on which the containers stand while they are being cut away. The support platforms are surrounded by a vertically raisable and lowerable die, which cooperates with a cutting knife, disposed above it, that determines the outer contour of the containers. Conveyor belts that extend in the plane of the support platforms serve to deliver and remove the containers. A disadvantage of the known apparatus is that there are interstices between the support platforms and the die in which the containers can become jammed when the die is lowered, especially on being expelled from the apparatus after they have been cut away.
An apparatus is also known from German Patent Disclosure DE 32 35 005 A1, in which support platforms remove the cut-away containers upward, in suitably embodied stacking conduits. The support platforms are vertically movable for that purpose. Aside from the high structural cost dictated by the vertically movable support platforms and by the stacking conduits, the apparatus requires one additional operating cycle to expel the cut-away containers. This keeps the capacity of the apparatus relatively low.